Cairo, 12 November 2018 - IOM Egypt has organized two sessions under Women in Leadership initiative on 22nd July and 12th November 2018. The objective of this initiative is to inspire staff through examples of women in leadership positions. The two pilot sessions included Carmela Godeau, Regional Director IOM MENA and Blerta Aliko, Country Representative, UN WOMEN Egypt as guest speakers.

The sessions provided a platform for women staff to openly discuss their professional challenges and accomplishments and learn from each other’s experience in overcoming these challenges. The sessions allowed staff to deliberate on specific issues they have faced in their professional experience and how different approaches were employed to respond to these issues.  The participants also discussed issues specific to working in the humanitarian sector including challenges women face when it comes to international mobility for assignments.

Furthermore, the discussion included how to effectively maintain work life balance when faced with demanding work requirements.

The initiative is envisaged to be expanded to include more participants and guest speakers from other sectors including Government, private sector and NGOs in the upcoming sessions.

The initiative is also in line with the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, specifically the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), namely Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

For more information, please contact Omar Awwad at IOM Egypt, Tel: +2 02 2736 5140/1 Email: oawwad@iom.int